the Puppies are 14 Days Old!

The puppies are 14 days old today. They have grown to more than twice their birth weight. They are now up on all four legs and can totter around the whelping box. Eyes are starting to open. When I came in to see them this morning, one of the little boys had his little head cocked and was looking around. His world right now is only shadows, but imagine if you could remember your first moments of sight. What an amazing thing even light and dark must be!

Over the next two weeks, the puppies will undergo several changes. They will begin to see shapes and they will discover that there are other puppies in the whelping box with them. These early interactions are priceless! Hearing will start to come in over the next week or so. Our litters seem to have read the text book on hearing and we won't really see evidence of working ears until the 21st day. This is a time of tremendous sensory stimulation and discovery for the puppies. It is also the last week that they will be in the whelping box and solely reliant on Mom for nutrition. Spotting is starting to come through and is becoming more pronounced each day.

Ginger still spends almost all of her time with the puppies, although we are seeing evidence that she is getting restless. Ginger has been popping her head out of the puppy room more frequently, and the other day when I came in to watch puppies, we sat on the bed together and admired her kids. Today she joined the other dogs for their daily trek out to the barn to feed the horses and nosh on a carrot. Ginger decided she could take the extra time away from the pups. It was her equivalent of going to Starbucks for a coffee with her friends.

Not sure that the video quality this week is very good, but here's the crew as they get their legs under them. Video and music courtesy of Tom: